1. "How we think about the word help reveals a lot about our own hearts. Some of us don't ask for help because our own pride gets in the way. Maybe we want to prove ourselves to someone else, prove our value, prove our worth, show that we have dignity, show that we have something to offer."

2. "We're in a culture that preaches self-reliance. The gospel preaches self-abandonment. To not be self-reliant, but to be reliant upon Christ."

3. "Some people think in our world that God only helps those who help themselves. But the reality is God has helped those who could never help themselves. We are helpless. Without Christ, we have nothing without him."

4. "Our God has not only called us and saved us, He will keep us to the end."

5. "Reactive and short-sighted Christians are struggling and stagnant Christians, but the prudent are those who are growing in their affection for Christ."

6. "Our pride lies to us. It deceives us about who we really are and what we can really handle in this life. And worst of all, our pride lies about God to the world."

7. "Weak saints display a big God. So don't hide your weakness. Don't be ashamed of your weakness. Don't be ashamed of your frailties. When we are weak, we display God the best because we know that we have nothing in and of ourselves to make it."

8. "It's when you're finally weak, when you finally realize that you're weak, that's when you're in the best spot to experience the sweetness and the nearness of God."

9. "What's amazing about our God? There's never been a moment where he couldn't stop watching you. He continues to watch over our lives. There's never a moment that he dozes off or he's asleep on the job."

10. "Nowhere in the Bible do you see that God will keep you from danger. He promises to keep you in the midst of danger. He promises to preserve you and to help you persevere."

Observation Questions

1. In Psalm 121:1-2, where does the psalmist say his help comes from, and what specific attribute of the Lord does he mention in connection with this help?

2. According to verses 3-4, what two things does the text say the Lord will not do, and how does this apply to both the individual ("you") and the nation ("Israel")?

3. In verse 5, what two titles or roles does the psalmist assign to the Lord, and what physical imagery does he use to describe God's protection?

4. What specific dangers does the psalmist mention in verses 6-7 that the Lord will protect against, and what comprehensive phrase does he use to summarize this protection?

5. How many times does the word "keep" (or "keeper") appear in Psalm 121:3-8, and what different aspects of life does the psalmist say the Lord will keep?

6. In verse 8, what phrase does the psalmist use to describe the duration of the Lord's keeping, and what activities of daily life does he say are covered by this protection?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why is it significant that the psalmist identifies his helper as the one "who made heaven and earth" (v. 2)? How does God's role as Creator relate to His ability to keep and protect His people?

2. The sermon explained that the Hebrew word for "keep" (shamar) is the same word used for Adam's charge to guard the garden in Genesis 2. What is the theological significance of God being our "keeper" in light of Adam's failure to keep the garden?

3. How do verses 3-4 address the common human tendency toward anxiety and the feeling that we must stay vigilant to protect ourselves? What does God's sleeplessness communicate about His character and care?

4. The sermon noted that Psalm 121 does not promise absence of danger but preservation through danger. How do verses 5-7 support this interpretation, and how does this differ from a prosperity-focused reading of the psalm?

5. How does the phrase "from this time forth and forevermore" (v. 8) connect to the New Testament teaching about the perseverance of the saints, and what does this reveal about the nature of God's covenant faithfulness?

Application Questions

1. The sermon identified pride, fear of man, and lack of self-awareness as reasons we don't ask for help. Which of these most often prevents you from seeking help from God or others, and what specific step could you take this week to address it?

2. The psalmist was "prudent" by thinking ahead about the dangers of his journey. What temptation or challenge do you anticipate facing this week, and how can you proactively prepare to rely on God rather than react in the moment?

3. The sermon stated that "weak saints display a big God." In what area of your life are you tempted to hide your weakness or project strength? How might openly acknowledging your need for help actually serve as a testimony to God's sufficiency?

4. Considering that God "neither slumbers nor sleeps" (v. 4), what specific worry or situation are you currently losing sleep over that you need to entrust to God's vigilant care this week?

5. The sermon challenged the tendency to "hedge our bets" by preparing for worst-case scenarios as a way of doubting God's goodness. How does Psalm 121's promise of God's keeping challenge the way you mentally prepare for uncertain situations in your work, relationships, or health?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Genesis 2:15-17 — This passage shows Adam's original charge to "keep" the garden, providing the background for understanding how God succeeds as our keeper where Adam failed.

2. Romans 8:31-39 — Paul's declaration that nothing can separate believers from God's love reinforces the eternal security and keeping promised in Psalm 121:8.

3. Isaiah 43:1-7 — God promises to be with Israel through water, rivers, and fire, illustrating the same theme of divine protection through danger rather than from danger.

4. John 10:27-30 — Jesus promises that no one can snatch His sheep from His hand, echoing the psalmist's confidence in God's vigilant and eternal keeping.

5. Jude 24-25 — This doxology celebrates God's ability to keep believers from stumbling and present them blameless, providing a New Testament summary of Psalm 121's promises.

Sermon Main Topics

I. The Challenge of Asking for Help in a Self-Reliant Culture

II. I Need Help (Psalm 121:1)

III. God Is My Helper (Psalm 121:2-8)

IV. Living with Assurance of God's Eternal Keeping

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Detailed Sermon Outline

What comes to mind when you hear the word help?

I want you to think about your past this past week. Was there any point in your life this past week where you asked for assistance? Maybe with a coworker, a roommate, a friend, a church member, a spouse? At any point did you ask for help? If you're like me, I love to ask other people, Hey, how can I help you?

How can I assist you? And in my mind sometimes, I don't know why I think this way, sometimes I think help is for other people. Help is for those around me. Maybe it's because I was raised to figure it out, to find my own way, to do everything that I can, to do it on my own, and don't ask for help until you find out you have no other options or ideas. How do you think about help?

If you were like me, you might have been bred and brought up in a culture that has taught you self-reliance. Maybe many of you in your own jobs, in your school and education, you were awarded for independence, for independent thinking. But the interesting thing is, is how we think about the word help reveals a lot about our own hearts. If you think about it, some of us, we don't ask for help because of our own pride gets in the way. Maybe we want to prove ourselves to someone else, prove our value, prove our worth, show that we have dignity, show that we have something to offer.

Or maybe we don't ask for help because of the fear of man. We're fearful of asking for help because people will see that we have shortcomings, we have weaknesses, that we don't know everything. Or maybe we don't ask for help because we just lack self-awareness. If that's you tonight, I'm certain there's a friend or a spouse who could help you figure that out, if that's you. But help is an interesting thing.

It's interesting for us, though, we're in a culture that preaches self-reliance. The gospel preaches self-abandonment. To not be self-reliant, but to be reliant upon Christ. I mean, just think about our world that we live in. The way we got into this mess to begin with is because of a desire and a decision to be independent of God.

But it is only in Christ where we find our lives. Some people think in our world that God only helps those who help themselves. But the reality is God has helped those who could never help themselves. We are helpless. Without Christ, we have nothing without him.

Now many of us know that Christ is coming, he's saved us for all eternity, but oftentimes we're tempted to believe that since God is taking care of our eternity, we take care of the rest, that our daily lives are up to us. And is that who God is? Has he said, I've taken care of your salvation, now the rest is up to you, like a parent dropping their kid off to college, say, here you go, do the best that you can. No, that's not who our God is. Our God has not only called us and saved us, He will keep us to the end.

And that is the joy and that is the sweetness of Psalm 121. So if you have your Bible, I invite you to go ahead and grab those and turn to Psalm 121. Psalm 121.

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Slumber.

Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil.

He will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. Now, Psalm 121 is in the middle, or it's the beginning, it's the second psalm of what is known as the Ascent Psalms. There's much debate about why these psalms are kind of delegated and categorized as the Ascent Psalms. I think the most compelling argument that these psalms were sung by travelers who were making their annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem for one of the three feasts, for Passover, for Pentecost, and for the Day of the Atonement.

These are simply just traveler songs. Or better yet, it's their version of a curated Spotify playlist. Things that they would think on and sing as they're passing through, passing the time and thinking about their destination. You can imagine that they're on a long and strenuous journey, making their way to Jerusalem to worship their God, and they'll be faced with many difficulties and trial along the way. These songs were meant to bring great hope of encouragement that they could make it to the end.

You have to imagine that after many of these saints had sung these songs for years, they began to take a different shape. As they experienced prosperity and adversity, happiness and sorrow, their understanding of God's faithfulness began to take on a new meaning. They began to understand how good God actually was to them. So here in Psalm 121, the psalmist is on a pilgrimage, and he's clearly aware of what lies ahead. It's a long, strenuous journey.

There was no highway system. The roads at this point were not well developed. Many of these pilgrims would have had to go down mountain ranges and steep inclines and had to walk down valleys and across creeks and rivers. Maybe if they were coming from really far, they would have had to find places to stay because they couldn't get there in a day. Many might have had to make camp during the night just to survive to get there.

It's easy to imagine how a song like this would bring comfort to someone whose body had begun to ache and the resolve had begun to give way. The psalmist here, as you see in verse 1, says, I lift my eyes to the hills. Now, there's much speculation on what these hills are. Some people think these hills are the hills that lead to Jerusalem. They're looking up and you see these hills, and as the pilgrim is traveling, he begins to see the city of God, that the house of God is near, that the people of God is near.

So these hills are a source of encouragement that he keeps looking forward knowing that he's almost there. Others see these hills in a more negative sense. Often throughout the Old Testament, the hills are references to where the wicked worship. We often see throughout 1 and 2 Kings that Israel was condemned for adopting the practices of the Canaanites, for worshiping on the high places, for practicing their worship the way the other nations did. So if the psalmist sees the hills in that way, he's discouraged.

He's anxious about his future because he knows what lies ahead. It's the wicked. He knows that danger awaits him. But I don't necessarily think it's important what these hills are. I think what is important is the pilgrim's response to the hills.

So my sermon tonight is two simple points. The first is this: I need help. And the second is this, God is my helper. We're gonna look at the first point, I need help. Look back at verse 1.

It says, I lift my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come? So he looks up, the pilgrim looks up, the traveler looks up, and he begins to see what's ahead of him. He's either starting his journey or he's in the middle of his journey, and he begins to process and evaluate his circumstances and situations. He's thinking, how am I going to make it? How am I going to get there?

What the pilgrim does here is he displays for us a sense of prudence. He's thoughtful about his future. He's thoughtful about what lies ahead. And if you read the context, he knows there's some real danger that awaits him, but he's looking ahead so that he's wise, not reactive, but he's proactive.

Maybe the psalmist can relate with the counsel that Bilbo gave Frodo when he says, Hey, it's dangerous business going out one's front door. He knows that there may be potential danger awaits him, so he wants to be prudent about what lies ahead of him. Brothers and sisters, God calls us to be prudent about our future, to be people who were forward thinking about what we will face each day and each week. We are to be a people who are aware of our own tendencies and temptations and to lay them at the feet of Jesus. So if you want to grow in your relationship with Jesus Christ, if you want to grow in fighting your sin, don't be reactive or apathetic.

Be forward thinking. Have depth perception. Think ahead of how you're going to pursue the Lord each week on a Sunday night or a Monday morning. Begin to process and think about when you're most tempted to sin and begin to play or pray and plan about how you're going to avoid that specific temptation and that sin. Reactive and short-sighted Christians are struggling and stagnant Christians, but the prudent are those who are growing in their affection for Christ.

Not only is this pilgrim is he prudent, but he's realistic. He's beginning to look for help. He's realistic and he knows that there's nothing in himself that will carry him through. He's not strong enough, he's not smart enough to make it on his own. You see, it's oftentimes that God will use the circumstances of our lives to help us see ourselves more clearly.

And I think this pilgrim's looking out and he sees the danger, he sees the difficulty, and he's no fool. He knows he doesn't have anything of himself to make it. He's self-aware enough to know that he's weak and that he needs assistance. If he's going to make it on his journey, he's going to need encouragement and strength when his body begins to give out and his mind begins to play tricks on him and his resolve begins to wane. Simply put, this brother knows he needs help.

He looks at his journey and simply says, I need help. Brothers and sisters, do you know your weakness? Are you self-aware about your struggles and your frailty? Are you thinking about the difficult circumstances and the difficult terrain you're going to have to walk this week? That the world, the flesh, and the devil will throw it at you?

If you know your own weakness, you're in a really good spot tonight. Because it's a few chapters later in Psalm 138:6 where David would say, Though the Lord is high, He regards the lowly. And it's the haughty He knows from afar. Our God does not delight in the proud. No, David said he's far from the proud.

It is those who know their lowly state.

And cast themselves on him. Those are whom the ones God delights in. God delights in our weakness because when we are weak, his grace is sufficient. His power is made perfect in our weakness. And when we are weak, he is strong.

It's like this right now in our family. So we've, Megan and I have been married eight years. We've got three kids, three and under. And there's a phrase that's being used often in our house almost every day. Which is I can do it by myself.

And to be clear, Megan is not talking to me, okay? That is our kids talking to us. Whether it be eating their dinner, whether it be going to bed, putting their pajamas on, reading books or something else, it is I can do it by myself. But little do they know that as they stand there proud, I'm with them and I want to help them. There was nothing that brings me any greater joy in this life than to hear my child say, Dad, can you help me?

That I'm struggling, can you help me? For them to see their weakness and say, can you teach me, can you help me? And see, I think this is what the psalmist is doing. He's not blinded by his pride or his ambition, but he knows his own weakness and he knows his father is there to help him. So he calls out to him.

He's not blinded by his pride. And see, if we're not careful, because we live in DC and we come here to help and make changes, Sometimes we can be blinded by our pride. And our pride, it lies to us. It deceives us about who we really are and what we can really handle in this life. And worst of all, our pride lies about God to the world.

We are a people who've been saved not by our strength, but we are people who knew we were weak and we had no hope without Christ. Christians of all people should delight in displaying weakness. That's why Stephen Scharnau would say a proud faith is as much a contradiction as a humble devil. In a world that values strength and independence, we are Christians are called to weakness and reliance on Jesus. Brothers and sisters, listen to this.

Weak saints display a big God. Weak saints display a big God. So don't hide your weakness. Don't be ashamed of your weakness. Don't be ashamed of your frailties.

When we are weak, we display God the best because we know that we have nothing in and of ourselves to make it. So don't hide your weakness. Realize it, press into it, and take it to Jesus. You see, it's when you're finally weak, when you finally realize that you're weak, that's when you're in the best spot to experience the sweetness and the nearness of God. So brothers and sisters, let's pray for our church that we would not be proud, that we would not think that we can make it on our own.

Let's pray that God would reveal to us who we really are, and let's pray that would drive us to be more reliant upon Him. And for the non-Christian that's here, we praise God that you're here. We hope you come every single week. But do you sense your weakness? Have you sensed your own frailty this past year in light of the pandemic and all the craziness that's going on in our country?

Who are you relying on to help you? As we've seen in Ecclesiastes, there's nothing this world has to offer to fix us. And if you cling on things in this world, it will dissolve right underneath you. But I can assure you this today, that Christ is near if you'll turn to him. That Christ is near.

He will save you. He will help you. He will pull you out of the depths of your sin and give you life and redeem you. Jesus says in John 6, all that come to me, I will never cast out. So I plead with you this day that you would turn over your life, turn from your pride and trust in Jesus.

Would bring us no greater joy than to see you do that this evening. So here we see that the pilgrim is prudent. He's concerned about his future. He's realistic, knowing that he has nothing in and of himself to make it on his own. And he's looking for help.

He's not looking for help in creation. He sees the hills and he's saying there's something better than the hills. There's no man-made creation that can help me. No, it's the God who created those hills. He will be the one that will help me on my journey.

That brings me to my second point tonight. Not only do I need help, God is my helper. God is my helper. We'll cover verses 2 through 8 here. What I love about this psalm is it feels like the psalmist is having a conversation with himself.

You don't have to raise your hand, but maybe there's a few of you that you end up, you find yourself talking to yourself along the way. And apparently Martin Lloyd Jones said that's a good thing. Christians should talk to themselves more than they listen to themselves. And I think that's what the psalmist is doing. He looks at his future, he looks at the danger, and he says, how am I going to make it?

Maybe he's intimidated in this moment. That's why he asked the question. But then he immediately responds with a confession. How will I make it? Who will help me?

The one who made heaven and earth, he will help me. He will get me through. But notice something that the psalmist does here. He mentions one word six different times. It's the word keep.

See in verse three he says, he who keeps you will not slumber. Verse four, behold he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. Verse five, the Lord is your keeper. Verse seven, the Lord will keep your life. He will keep your life.

Verse eight, the Lord will keep your going out and your coming in. In from this time forth and forever more mentions keep six different times. And that's really what this psalm is about. It's about God being our keeper. And that word keep comes from the Hebrew word Shamar, which means to guard and protect, to watch over.

It's actually the same word that God charged Adam with in the garden in Genesis chapter two. When he created Adam outside the garden and put him into the garden, he said, Adam, you will work and you will keep the garden. It was Adam's responsibility to protect himself and his family, to guard the garden, and he failed. But the good news for us is what Adam failed to do, God will never fail to do. He will keep us and guard us well to the end.

So the psalmist finds comfort on this journey in the fact that God would keep him, that God would guard him, that God would protect him and keep him to the end. So the rest of the sermon is going to focus on three characteristics of keeping. Three characteristics of keeping. And the first one is this, is that God keeps us with vigilance. God keeps us with vigilance.

Look at verses 3 and 4 here.

He says this, He will not let your foot be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. He's saying that God will be attentive. He will be vigilant in his keeping of me.

The phrase, He will not let your foot be moved, is he's saying that even his foot won't slip. God will notice it. God will be watching over him in such a way that not even his foot will slip. He's finding comfort to know that the Lord will never doze off in his watching over him. That God will be watching his every step.

You can imagine that if this pilgrim was going to have to camp out on the side of the road that evening, the danger that might await him around his camp. He might be tempted to stay up all night and watch to make sure everything's fine. But the good news, as the psalmist says, that he could go to sleep because God would not be sleeping. It's like David in Psalm chapter three when his life was potentially on the line when Absalom had rebelled against him and tried to usurp the throne. Psalm three David says, I laid my head down and rested and you sustained me.

David knew he could sleep because God would not.

The psalmist found comfort knowing that God would watch him and he would not fall asleep on the job. It reminds me when we first had Nora, our oldest, she's three, about to be four. We went to the hospital and it's so great when you're at the hospital and you have a newborn because you have all these people taking care of your kid and then they say, Hey, you need to leave. And you're like, what are we supposed to do with this baby that we just got? Like, how are we supposed to do this?

And you get home and you're terrified and I'm like super anxious and any sneeze or cough, I would jump up and I would just like want to watch her all through the night. Just to make sure that she was fine. I couldn't handle sleeping because I was so concerned about her. But I was too exhausted to do it. I couldn't make it happen on my own.

You know what's great about our God? There's never been a moment where he couldn't stop watching you. He continues to watch over our lives. There's never a moment that he dozes off or he's asleep on the job. He is not like Baal or Baal in 1 Kings 18 when you have the prophets of Baal and Elijah going against one another and the prophets of Baal are trying to call down fire and Elijah says, Hey, is your God gone?

He's taking a nap. That is not who our God is. What's amazing here, if you see about the psalmist, he finds comfort not only that God is watching over him, but that God is watching over all of Israel. Every single one of the Israelites God was caring for and providing for because of his covenant promises to them. He knew that God would keep all of them because of his promises to David and his covenants throughout Israel's nation's history.

He would bring them all safely home to himself. It's like in 2017, I was doing some research about this because I find the flying and how many planes are in the air fascinating. So in 2017, there's a company called FlightAware. And at any given moment in 2017, there were almost 10,000 planes in the air at any moment, which means there's like 1.2 million people flying above us at all times, basically. And the amazing job about air traffic controllers is they're trying to make sure that all those planes don't go in the same stream.

They don't crush each other and collide and make sure that everyone takes off and gets home safely.

That's what God is doing with each one of us. He's not overwhelmed that there are hundreds of people at Capitol Hill looking for him for guidance. He's not exhausted by that. He's not worn down by that. He's going to bring us all safely home because he promised that he would.

Same for us as Christians. As this psalmist finds comfort that he has made a covenant promise to Israel. He's gonna provide for all. Jesus made that promise in Matthew 16 that the gates of hell would not prevail against his church. That's a blessing for all of us.

That God will bring us safely home because what Christ has done. So, brothers and sisters, what situations keep you up at night? What relationship, what circumstance keeps you from falling asleep or waking up in the middle of the night? I just want to encourage you, give it over to the Lord and get some rest because he's going to be up all night anyway. There's no need for you to be anxious about your life, anxious about your future because God will not take his eye off of you.

He will be vigilant in his watching you. Take comfort to know there wasn't a moment in your past this past week or there won't be a moment in your future where God falls asleep or is distracted by the news. He will watch you completely. So not only does God watch us with all vigilance, his keeping means that he shields us. His keeping means that he shields us.

We'll see this in verse 5 through 7.

5:24 the psalmist writes in verse 5, the Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.

So the reference to the sun, it naturally makes sense to us, right? You can imagine in the Middle East walking in the middle of the heat, this day traveling, carrying your stuff, carrying your family, taking care of all the possessions you have. That could be exhausting physically. And even there's potential danger of a heat stroke. But the moon reference isn't as easy to understand.

Some see this as the fact that someone could have a moon stroke. They become emotional or mentally unstable and unaware. They literally become a lunatic. Others see the moon reference as maybe the fact that when you're outside at night in the middle of nowhere, and under the moonlight, your eyes can deceive you, your mind can deceive you, and so you become anxious about what's around you. I don't think that's what the psalmist is after.

I think he's trying to talk about the exhaustive nature of how God shields us. That even in the moon, or even in the sun, or even amidst all evil, God will shield us. He will protect us from the elements that we face. I think you see it more clearly in verse 7, where he says, God will keep your life. Where do we see this most magnificently displayed that God shields us?

We see it at the cross of Christ. For it is there that God shielded us from his wrath. He shields us from the judgment that we deserve. That's the comfort we should take is that God shields us from what we deserve and so he's given us eternal life instead. That's why Jesus could promise in Luke 21:17-18 to a group of Christians who were going to be persecuted, you will be hated by all for my name's sake, but not a hair of your head will perish.

Well, that's why God promised to Israel in Isaiah 43:1-2, Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by my name, you, are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, and the flames shall not consume you. Because we've been reconciled to God, He will shield us through all the trials and dangers of this life. Haven't we seen this as a church this past year? I mean, I feel like we've met in every condition possible other than snow, which there's still a chance for that, and we've been fine.

We've met in two different states and in the district, we met outside, we met indoors, we've sung outside, we've sung indoors, we've had 100 degree heat, we've been in the rain, and yet through it all, God has sustained our church. I mean, if there's going to be a year that was going to be most taxing on our congregation, it would be this one. And we've been fine. The Lord is taking care of us. It's been a blessing and a joy to be a part of, to see us be unified, to see us rally around one another, to see us.

Many of our members of our church give an abundance to the benevolence fund to take care of the members of our church. God has preserved us, but let us not take that for granted. What has happened is the mercy of God upon our lives. He has shielded us from great danger. But we have to be careful here with this part of the Psalm.

It's easy to be tempted to believe that this Psalm only promises prosperity and not danger. But nowhere in the Bible, and this Psalm is not saying this, do you see that God will keep you from danger? He promises to keep you in the midst of danger. He promises to preserve you and to help you persevere. This Psalm does not promise that you will never die.

This Psalm does not promise that you won't lose your job. This Psalm does not promise that you won't get COVID. It does promise, however, that no power of hell and no scheme of man will ever pluck you from his hand. It's a promise that you and I will be brought safely home to him one day. That he will never lose us.

He will never leave us nor forsake us. That in the midst of the struggle, in the midst of the trial, he will keep your life. That's the promise of Psalm 121. But what about those of us in our church tonight who've experienced real evil? Have you been wounded and scarred?

You've been hurt. Listen, if that's you, brother and sister, I can promise this, that Christ will vindicate you one day. He will cover all your scars. There's coming a day where he will bring justice on your behalf, and he will wipe every tear from your eye, and every pain that you carry in this life will be remembered no more. That's why in Revelation 7, I think in many ways it's a Psalm 121 is a prophecy of Revelation 7 of heaven.

John writes, They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore. The sun shall not strike them nor any scorching heat. All of our pain and all of our struggles will be gone and removed in the presence of the Lamb. It's a promise of our future. This is our hope.

What a privilege, what a joy. Now, I know this. I'm preaching this tonight. I've meditated on Psalm 121, but there In my heart sometimes, I don't know about you, there's a temptation to hedge my bets. I know that God will shield me from all evil, but in my mind sometimes I need to think about the worst possible outcomes just so I'm ready for the really bad news.

I need to think about all the potential dangers so that when I walk around the corner and it finally happens, I'm not too devastated. And you know why we do that? You know why I do that? It's because I'm doubting the goodness of God. I'm doubting that he's with me.

I'm doubting that his promises are actually true. And Psalm 121 is a direct rebuke to that kind of thinking. He's saying, though I may go through danger, though I may experience the heat or the moon or my foot might slip, God will take care of me in the midst of all of it. He's gonna keep me with great vigilance. He's gonna shield me through the midst of all the trials and struggles that I will face.

And the last thing we see of the characteristic is he keeps us eternally. Not only does He keep us with vigilance and His keeping shields us from danger, He keeps us with vigilance. Look back at verse 8.

It says, the Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. There's no expiration date on God's keeping you. Because Christ is out of the grave and you've been saved by the preaching of the gospel and by the Spirit, you are His forever. He will keep you. This is an eternal promise.

Now, many of us in this life, we have different jobs and different struggles and different temptations, and we're all headed to the celestial city. And this is a promise that we will all make it. This really is about the perseverance of the Saints. He will keep us all. He will not lose a single one for whom Christ died for.

When I read this, it made me think of Romans 8, when Paul said, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No.

In all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. So what Psalm 121 promises is really what I read in Jude 24 and 25 now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy. This is what it promises. We should live with this kind of assurance, not with people who were fearful or victims, but victors because of what Christ has done, that God is our companion on this journey, and he will not leave us, and he will not forsake us.

So brothers and sisters, do you feel your own weakness? And if you do, where are you looking for help? Are you tempted to put your hope in Capitol Hill or on Calvary's Hill? Are you trusting that He will carry you through to the end? This past year and in light of Jab Hacker's passing, I went back through and read Knowing God, and I read this quote, and he's not talking about Psalm 121, but he embodies what Psalm 121 is trying to say.

We'll close with this. Packer writes, Guidance, like all God's acts of blessing under the covenant of grace, is a sovereign act. Not merely does God will to guide us in the sense of showing us his way, that we may tread it, He wills also to guide us in the more fundamental sense of ensuring that whatever happens, whatever mistakes we make, we shall come safely home. Slippings and strains there will be, no doubt, but the everlasting arms are beneath us. We shall be caught, rescued, restored.

This is God's promise. This is how good He is.

Father in heaven, we praise you as the creator of heaven and earth. And Father, we praise you that it pleased you to send your son to Shield us from your wrath, to shield us from the judgment that we deserve. And Father, we praise you for you are not only our Savior, but our companion on this journey. Lord, your word is true and your promises are true and you will keep us all and you will make sure we all make it safely home to you. So Lord, I pray that we would live with that kind of confidence and that kind of assurance knowing that you are with us and you are our help.

And our comfort and our strength. Be with us now as we continue to praise your name. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.